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On the day we met Mei Mei, the director of her orphanage and several caregivers traveled with six babies to Guangzhou. In Jiangxi Province, when we met the Tongginator in 2005, officials gave us the opportunity to ask questions both on the day we met the Tongginator and the following day, our formal adoption day. With Mei Mei, we had about two hours to talk with the caregivers, during an extremely emotional time.

I’m glad I wrote down my questions ahead of time, otherwise I wouldn’t have remembered a thing.

We learned our daughter’s nickname, although I’m not sure how often they used it with her. With 25 to 30 babies in a room, and only two caregivers, I’m sure they had their hands full simply changing diapers and making bottles. We learned a few facts about Mei Mei’s daily life, but even the two caregivers disagreed on some facts, so I don’t feel too confident about all of the information. We didn’t receive a developmental report, nor did we receive a written schedule, so we’re learning about Mei Mei as the days inch forward, just as she is learning about us.

When I talked with Mei Mei’s favorite caregiver, I peppered her with questions, asking everything from “is there anything you remember about the day she first came to the orphanage?” to “what comforts her?” to “did she have a cribmate?” It was that last question that brought tears to everyone’s eyes. Because, y’all, we are traveling with a family from Minnesota who adopted their daughter, Nixie Knox, from the Tonggu SWI on the same day, in the same room, that we adopted the Tongginator. And their newly adopted youngest daughter, Little Lola Lopp, is from the same orphanage as Mei Mei.

Even more special is that Little Lola Lopp and Mei Mei shared a crib.

They were cribmates, y’all.

Which means our two oldest knew one another in China before we ever met them. And our two youngest knew one another in China, before we ever met them. This doesn’t happen… or at least I’ve never heard of it happening before, not in real life, and not on-line. When Mei Mei’s ayi pointed to Little Lola Lopp after I asked about Mei Mei’s cribmate, I called out to my travelmate and friend, the Queen of Quincy, to tell her the news. Tears welled up in her eyes. They welled up in my own. And when the ayis saw our tears, they asked our translator what was going on. She shared with them our story.

And they cried, too.

Even the director of the orphanage became emotional when he heard.

The connection our two families share, because of our four girls, will always be with us. I can’t believe our two youngest shared such a special connection during their first year in the orphanage. And I can’t believe that our two oldest, already so connected, were able to become big sisters together.

We have no connections at all to anyone. We didn't even travel with any other families. I'm glad Cloud is friendly and outgoing, because if he wants his parents to make connections for him, we got nuthin'.

Okay,with a story like that, I can forgive you for not providing pictures today! :) Sometimes there are some really good reasons why things happen in God's time and not our own. This sounds like one of those things!! LOVE this story!!

Wonderful news. We were so fortunate to meet the cribmates (twins) of our daughter when we were at the White Swan. We are so glad to have this connection for our three girls. I'm so glad you found BOTH of your girls' cribmates!!

#1 I'm amazed you got 2 hours with the caregivers. We got 0 time. We spoke only with the orphanage director. Even the day we drove 4 hours each way to the SWI we only had about 30 minutes. It is simply amazing that the Mei Meis were crib mates. Amazing!

We've learned many things through adoption - and feel that we've come to know you and your family this way too....and we agree about the 'imperfectness' of adoption....and many more aspects of growing our family this way too.

But when we see something like this (and I've never ever heard of anything THIS remarkable!) - then it becomes clear to me that whatever your Belief's - the Hand of the Almighty Blesses this process and these families!

I've got chills, more than a few tears, and great joy in my heart - it don't get much more perfect than this in our world!

Amazing. Simply incredible. Only God, my friend. Only God. What a beautiful tale you will all have to tell your four girls in the years to come. May HE use it for HIS glory as a testament to HIS faithfulness and intimate care of HIS children!

A friend and I decided to adopt about a month apart. She joined our adoption agency a month after we did. She got her referral of her son a month after we did. Then, the weirdness started. We'd get each other's photos, the medical reports would get swapped (I'd get her son's she get mine). Finally, a picture arrived of my friend's son - she called me and said "either that orange outfit your son has been wearing in a lot of his photos is really popular in Guatemala or our boys are in the same foster home." She was right - our boys were foster brothers. It's never happened before or since. They have a link that they will share the rest of their lives.

That is so amazing! Our friends have just been referred a girl from Jiangxi and she has Alice's forever family date as her birthday now between us we have 4 Jiangxi babies all different SWI's but I sure the connection will grow!Hugs Ruth in NZ

I have goosebumps and the little hairs on the back of my neck are still standing on end! I love that there is a connection that was orchestrated with such precision that there is no doubt that it was certainly meant to be!

Identical to the sting of the 9 months of pregnancy and the birth completely disappearing upon seeing that child...there is NO DIFFERENCE in how your child gets here(having experienced BOTH ways...believe me, I know)..it is the love we feel at setting eyes upon the child we have longed for and know...without a doubt, has been missing from our hearts all our lives...so very happy for your new arrival, TM.....just thrilled!